Community care campus pitched to Cultural and Social SPC
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 19, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com The Cultural and Social Standing Policy committee of Lethbridge city council has filed for information a report submitted by a Lethbridge resident about potential ways to address homelessness and addictions issues.In a five-minute presentation, Dennis Bremner discussed a proposal for a community care campus that would allow for proper care and traditional healing for members of the Blackfoot Confederacy while giving addicts and homeless people homes rather than shelters.
“The objective was to give you a Plan B, a Plan B where people are housed, both the homeless and the addicted. The addicted would be on the border with the Blood and Blackfoot Confederacy and the homeless would be in the present shelter which is Alpha House and the Soup Kitchen,” he told the committee.
Bremner is calling for the construction of a 42-bed facility that would be used for homeless families and singles. He also said trailers could be used for housing the homeless at his preferred site which would be set up at the site of the existing Lethbridge Stabilization Centre and Shelter and would require expropriation of property next to the wall of an adjacent business.
He calls for the present Alpha House location to be taken over by Streets Alive or Mustard Seed and used as dry shelter. He said the soup kitchen would not be allowed to serve intoxicated people.
“This creates a trusted home for the homeless, a safe place to eat and sleep. The homeless that are presently being beaten up by addicts for their money should see a reduction of that kind of crime,” his report states, adding that homeless families would feel safer.
HIs proposal to help addicts calls for the procurement of property on the border of the Blackfoot Confederacy such as the old Kipp rifle range on Highway 509. He calls for the construction of five 100×200-foot steel buildings, two for housing addicts who would be separated by gender. One building would be used for a dining hall and kitchen, a fourth for medical staff with a consumption site operating under the auspices of Alberta Health Services. A fifth building would be used for bus maintenance and to stow equipment.
Bremner wants the city to implement a bus route between Lethbridge and Standoff that would meet at the facility at the same time. The service would run on an hourly basis. He calls for a police officer to be stationed at the bus stop in Lethbridge with no intoxicated people getting on at any of the stops. The facility would be managed by Alpha House, Blackfoot Elders and a representative from the city.
“The objective was to make sure that businesses were left intact, that residences were left intact, that the Blackfoot Confederacy was able to then treat their own, that in fact addicts would have a home and not a shelter. And that is most important to me,” Bremner told the committee.
“The objective was to avoid the term ‘shelter’ and absolutely avoid having anything to do with a shelter. Give a person a home, give them a place where they’re alongside, in this case the Blood Reserve or Blackfoot Confederacy and allow the Blackfoot Confederacy to work their magic in their treatment and healing systems on the individuals that were there.
“It is a multi-race, multi-gender facility so if a white person wants to take traditional healing they can; if they want to go the traditional way they also can. It would be a totally wet facility,” said Bremner, who said he is working with people including Alvin Mills.
“Ultimately in the end, the purpose was to make sure nobody suffered any harm in this city because my projections are always different from non-profits.” Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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